Happiness
by Snermione
Summary: Athena has brainwashed Annabeth into thinking Percy was a jerk. Annabeth broke up with him and, five months later, where are they now? Percabeth. Song-fic Like We Used To by A Rocket to the Moon.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I am not Rick Riordan or A Rocket To The Moon. I don't own the characters or the song.

Happiness:

Annabeth was yet again working on her spectacular plans for Olympus. She was yet again downright miserable. It had been five months since Athena convinced her that Percy just wasn't the one she should fall in love with. Athena showed her horrible things about Percy that probably weren't even true, but she gave in. She began to be brainwashed. Athena pounded everything bad about him into her until Annabeth ended it. She was saddened that her love wasn't who she thought he was and hurt her all the time behind her back. None of this of course was true, but Annabeth eventually got it into her mind that it was true.

Now, where was she? Alone at Olympus again on a Saturday and hopelessly lost. What had gone so wrong in her life? Surely, she could find a way to be happy again without Percy, but she wasn't. She wasn't even close to happy. She had an amazing job, one that she always wanted, an insanely smart boyfriend that her mother introduced to her and a semi-normal life with a lot less monsters since the Great War. However, it was not the same in a bad way. Sure, she loved doing her job of rebuilding Olympus, but every other second she wanted to just go home to Percy and show him all of her progress. Daniel, her boyfriend was cute and sweet to her, but he wasn't at all like Percy. She couldn't tell him anything related to being a demigod because he was human. With Percy, she could tell him anything and they savored each other's words. It was completely different with Daniel. They had a superficial mortal relationship. The deepest he got with her was, "What's your favorite math equation, Anna?" That's another thing, she didn't like. He called her Anna instead of Annabeth. She just missed her Seaweed Brain too much for her to be with a superficial Daniel.

Oh, Percy, she thought, just come back to me. I need you.

Five months. Five months since he's had a broken heart. For five months, he has been interrogating himself to find out what went wrong. What did he do? For five months, he cried himself to sleep. For five months, he had been insanely depressed. For five months, he hasn't once been truly happy. For five months his friends hasn't known what they could do. For five months, he has been missing her.

"That's it," he said with conviction. He couldn't just sit here anymore. He had to make something with his life. Moping around about Annabeth for five months wasn't going to get him anywhere. I should... He had no clue what he should do. He wanted to contact her somehow. A letter. Yes, he thought. I will right a letter so she knows what she did. In truth, this wasn't about revenge for Percy, he just needed to tell her something, for some reason he knew he should do at least that.

"Annabeth, you have a letter," Hermes said as he walked towards her.

"Good evening Lord Hermes, a letter you said?"

"Yes, here you go... I hope this will clear your head." Hermes told her before he disappeared leaving Annabeth confused.

She had no idea who it could be from, but something felt very familiar about the blue envelope she received. As she ripped it open and glanced at the handwriting, her heart started to flutter. It was beating at 100 miles per hour. She recognized the handwriting. Percy. Percy wrote to her. Her Seaweed Brain wrote to her! She was so excited she thought she was going to cry, and then she did when she started reading it.

Dear Annabeth,

I just wanted you to know that I hope you are happy. You must be with everything great going for you. Your perfect job, your perfect new boyfriend, and overall your perfect life. I truly do hope you have a good life whether it's with me or not. My Apollo friend is a new singer and I, Percy Jackson (A.K.A. Seaweed Brain) wrote his new single for him. Amazing, right?

Anyway, I wanted you to know it's about you so don't get mad at him if you hear it. I think it sounds good... It's called Like We Used To...I kind of don't know what else to say about it, but the meaning of the song, for me, is I want you to have a good life without me because obviously you don't want me in it so...yeah... I hope I see you around. Maybe we can get together and talk sometime?

Best Wishes,

Percy

That night, Annabeth cried more than she ever had before. When she got home, she looked up the song Like We Used To. These were the lyrics:

I could feel her breath as she's sleeping next to me

Sharing pillows and cold feet

She can feel my heart; fell asleep to its beat

Under blankets and warm sheets

If only I could be in that bed again

If only it were me instead of him

Does he watch your favorite movies?

Does he hold you when you cry?

Does he let you tell him all your favorite parts?

When you've seen it a million times

Does he sing to all your music?

While you dance to purple rain

Does he do all these things?

Like I used to?

14 months and 7 days ago,

Oh, I know you know how we felt about that night

Just your skin against the window

Oh, we took it slow and we both know

It should have been me inside that car

It should have been me instead of him in the dark

Does he watch your favorite movies?

Does he hold you when you cry?

Does he let you tell him all your favorite parts?

When you've seen it a million times

Does he sing to all your music?

While you dance to purple rain

Does he do all these things?

Like I used to?

I know that love happens all the time, love

(I'm a sucker for that feeling)

You're on my mind, love

(I always end up feeling cheated)

And that happens all the time, love

(Oh darling, I know I'm not needed)

Will he love you like I loved you?

Will he tell you every day?

Will he make you feel like you're invincible?

With every word he'll say

Can you promise me that this was right?

Don't throw it all away

Can you do all these things?

Will you do all these things?

Like we used to

Oh like we used to

It was so painful to listen to. The song alone was so sad, but knowing that you were the one who caused all this pain in someone; it breaks you. Annabeth just wanted to go back and erase it all. She wanted to tell Percy that she needed him and loved him. She wanted to tell him that Daniel couldn't do anything like he used to. Annabeth sighed in-between sobs. She needed Percy back.

Percy felt like he should go to her house. A crazy decision but he just knew, for some reason, that he had to find her. He didn't know for sure, but he felt in his tortured heart that Annabeth needed him. He didn't know why she left him, but he knew that she completely changed her mind. Silently, he thanked Aphrodite because he knew she had something to do with this. He just hoped she lived at the same address. He grabbed his coat and his keys and he ran to his car in the pouring down rain.

When he got to her apartment, he smiled when he saw her car outside. She was home. All he had to do was knock on the old, dirty door. Then, she would come to him and everything would be all right again.

Or would it? What if she was fine without him? What if she was better than fine without him and never wanted to see him again? "Will he love you like I loved you? Will he tell you every day? Will he make you feel like you're invincible, with every word he'll say?" interrupted his thoughts. It was coming from Annabeth's door. She was listening to his song. That meant something good, right?

Just then, her door opened. Annabeth had on pink boxer shorts and a big grey baggy sweatshirt. Her eyes were red and puffy like she had been crying for a long time, and she had been. Her hair was a mess, but to Percy, she was the most beautiful thing in the universe.

Neither of them had the courage to talk first, so they stood there, studying each other for a while.

"Annabeth listen-" Percy began but was interrupted by Annabeth.

"No Percy, please listen to me," they both began to shiver as the rain began to downpour but neither one of them made any move to go inside, "I'm so sorry. At the time, I thought that braking up with you would truly be good for me because of all the things my mother told me about you. Nevertheless, I realize now that none of it was true. Athena was just trying to get me away from you, even though I belong with you... I love you so much Percy. All I have been thinking about for five months is you and how we could've had the perfect life together. I don't want to be happy without you, and, frankly, I don't think I can be happy without you. You are my everything and I just hope that somehow you could find a way to forgive me and come back. I know I have caused you a lot of pain, but I love you more than anything..." Annabeth's voice trailed off.

"Annabeth, look at me. I love you so much. Of course, I will come back. I came here to get you back to me. I now know that I would rather hold the sky for the rest of my life for you than not have your love. I want to be there for you forever. Whenever you need me, wherever I am I will drop what I am doing and go to you. It killed me that day when you broke up with me, but nothing like that is ever going to happen again. This will make us stronger because now we know how much we mean to each other. We will know how in love we are when it hurts to be away for a day let alone five months. Come here." Percy said, and Annabeth came to him and they held each other in their arms in the pouring rain.

That night, they held each other and let out everything that was eating at them for the last five months. They held each other and cried like they have never cried before until they fell asleep with something in their hearts that they hadn't felt for a while; happiness.


End file.
